Addressing the BBC’s annual mid-term meeting on Tuesday, 4 August, South African BRICS Business Council (SABBC) chairperson Busi Mabuza said the shift was essential if the grouping was to deliver measurable economic value for businesses across the Global South.
“We recognise the absolute necessity of fortifying our economic and institutional architectures for resilience, ” Mabuza said.
She highlighted digital public infrastructure, financial technology and ethical artificial intelligence (AI) as important tools for driving innovation and helping BRICS economies compete more effectively in global value chains. At the same time, she said the transition towards green finance and renewable energy presented opportunities to deepen trade and cooperation between BRICS countries while supporting sustainability goals.
Mabuza also welcomed India’s recent bilateral trade agreements with major global economies, describing the approach as a positive signal for global trade. The SABBC, she said, was keen to see a similar approach replicated and expanded for South Africa within the BRICS framework.
Her comments come as South Africa seeks to deepen its access to major international markets and use BRICS cooperation to expand opportunities for local businesses. Mabuza said the council’s work should ultimately translate into new markets, investment opportunities and stronger commercial relationships rather than remain focused solely on policy advocacy.
Several BRICS Business Council working groups are already addressing areas with direct relevance to South Africa’s economic priorities. Mabuza singled out the inaugural BRICS MSME Forum and work on access to finance and technology transfer as particularly important to South Africa’s job creation efforts and the formalisation of informal businesses.
The Financial Services Working Group is also tackling issues including credit ratings, environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance, cross-border payment systems and reinsurance frameworks. According to Mabuza, progress in these areas could help reduce the cost of doing business across BRICS economies and improve access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises. She stressed that closer coordination between governments and businesses would be needed to ensure that financial reforms translate into easier, more seamless cross-border trade.
Agriculture is another key area for South Africa. Mabuza said the Agribusiness Working Group’s focus on climate-smart agricultural technologies and reducing non-tariff barriers could help improve market access for South African agricultural products, particularly in India and wider Asian markets. Skills development is also emerging as an important pillar of cooperation.
South Africa supports the development of a BRICS Skills Quality Framework, which could establish shared benchmarks for technical and vocational education, engineering qualifications, competency-based assessments and professional certifications.
Mabuza said the framework would not replace national education and qualification systems but could make them more transparent and comparable. Such an approach, she said, could strengthen skills mobility, employability and professional collaboration across BRICS economies.
“This transition reflects a deliberate focus on moving BRICS Business Council from dialogue to delivery. For South Africa, the most significant development is what Mabuza described as a fundamental evolution in the council’s discussions. She said the BBC was increasingly moving away from primarily advocating policy recommendations towards actively facilitating deals and trade.
“This transition reflects a deliberate focus on moving BRICS Business Council from dialogue to delivery,” she said. Rather than simply developing recommendations for governments, the council is increasingly focused on enabling bankable projects, investment pipelines and commercial partnerships between member states.
Mabuza said this approach should be accompanied by efforts to reduce trade barriers and establish preferential mechanisms that lower costs and speed up market access for businesses. The ultimate objective, she said, should be to position the BBC as an engine for measurable economic value, ensuring that trade, investment and industrial cooperation become tangible outcomes of BRICS membership.
The mid-term meeting also served as an important preparatory step ahead of the BRICS Business Council’s annual general meeting, scheduled for New Delhi next month. Mabuza praised India’s efforts during its presidency, noting that it had convened 55 meetings and expressing confidence that the engagements would result in practical, trade-enhancing outcomes.
She said South Africa was looking forward to the AGM and continued collaboration with the India Chapter. As BRICS economies seek to strengthen their influence in the global economy, Mabuza said the collective strength of the grouping should be used to shape a more sustainable future for businesses in the Global South.
